RAMON JOAQUIN, petitioner, vs.

Date: May 29, 1953

Facts:The main question represented in the first two courts related to the sequence of the deaths of Joaquin Navarro, Sr., his wife, andtheir children, all of whom were killed in the massacre of civilians by Japanese troops in Manila in February 1945. The trial courtfound the deaths of this persons to have accurred in this order: 1st. The Navarro girls, named Pilar, Concepcion and Natividad;2nd. Joaquin Navarro, Jr.; 3rd. Angela Joaquin de Navarro, and 4th, Joaquin Navarro, Sr. The Court of Appeals concurred withthe trial court except that, with regard to Angela Joaquin de Navarro and Joaquin Navarro, Jr., the latter was declared to havesurvived his mother.It is this modification of the lower court's finding which is now being contested by the petitioner. The importance of the questionwhether Angela Joaquin de Navarro died before Joaquin Navarro, Jr., or vice versa, lies in the fact that it radically affects therights of succession of Ramon Joaquin, the present petitioner who was an acknowledged natural child of Angela Joaquin andadopted child of the deceased spouses, and Antonio C. Navarro, respondent, son of Joaquin Navarro, Sr. by first marriage

On February 6, 1945, while the battle for the liberation of Manila was raging, the spouses Joaquin Navarro, Sr. andAngela Joaquin, together with their three daughters, Pilar, Concepcion, and Natividad, and their son Joaquin Navarro,Jr., and the latter's wife, Adela Conde, sought refuge in the ground floor of the building known as the German Club, atthe corner of San Marcelino and San Luis Streets of this City. During their stay, the building was packed with refugees,shells were exploding around, and the Club was set on fire. Simultaneously, the Japanese started shooting at thepeople inside the building, especially those who were trying to escape. The three daughters were hit and fell of theground near the entrance; and Joaquin Navarro, Sr., and his son decided to abandon the premises to seek a saferheaven. They could not convince Angela Joaquin who refused to join them; and son Joaquin Navarro, Sr., his son,Joaquin Navarro, Jr., and the latter's wife, Angela Conde, and a friend and former neighbor, Francisco Lopez, dashedout of the burning edifice. As they came out, Joaquin Navarro, Jr. was shot in the head by a Japanese soldier andimmediately dropped. The others lay flat on the ground in front of the Club premises to avoid the bullets. Minuteslater, the German Club, already on fire, collapsed, trapping many people inside, presumably including Angela Joaquin.Joaquin Navarro, Sr., Mrs. Joaquin Navarro, Jr., and Francisco Lopez managed to reach an air raid shelter nearby, thestayed there about three days, until February 10, 1915, when they were forced to leave the shelter be- cause the shellingtore it open. They flied toward the St. Theresa Academy in San Marcelino Street, but unfortunately met JapanesePatrols, who fired at the refugees, killing Joaquin Navarro, Sr., and his daughter-in-law."At the time of the masaccre, Joaquin Navarro, Sr. was aged 70; his wife Angela Joaquin was about 67 years old;Joaquin Navarro, Jr., about 30; Pilar Navarro was two or three years older than her brother; while the other sisters,Concepcion and Natividad Navarro y Joaquin, were between 23 and 25.Issue: W/N Joaquin Navarro, Jr. had died before his mother, Angela JoaquinRuling: Yes. While the possibility that the mother died before the son cannot be ruled out, it must be noted that thispossibility is entirely speculative and must yield to the more rational deduction from proven facts that it was the otherway aroundRatio:. Joaquin Navarro, Jr., it will be recalled, was killed, while running, in front of, and 15 meters from, the German Club.Still in the prime of life, 30, he must have negotiated that distance in five seconds or less, and so died within thatinterval from the time he dashed out of the building. Now, when Joaquin Navarro, Jr. with his father and wife startedto flee from the clubhouse, the old lady was alive and unhurt, so much so that the Navarro father and son tried hard tohave her come along. She could have perished within those five or fewer seconds, as stated, but the probabilities thatshe did seem very remote. True, people in the building were also killed but these, according to Lopez, were mostlyrefugees who had tried to slip away from it and were shot by Japanese troops. It was not very likely that Mrs. JoaquinNavarro, Sr. made an attempt to escape. She even made frantic efforts to dissuade her husband and son from leaving

the place and exposing themselves to gun fire.

It will be said that all this is indulging in inferences that are not conclusive. Section 69(ii) of Rule 123 does not requirethat the inference necessary to exclude the presumption therein provided be certain. It is the "particular circumstancesfrom which it (survivorship) can be inferred" that are required to be certain as tested by the rules of evidence. Inspeaking of inference the rule can not mean beyond doubt, for "inference is never certainty, but if may be plain enoughto justify a finding of fact."n conclusion the presumption that Angela Joaquin de Navarro died before her son is based purely on surmises,speculations, or conjectures without any sure foundation in the evidence. the opposite theory that the motheroutlived her son is deduced from established facts which, weighed by common experience, engender the inferenceas a very strong probability. Gauged by the doctrine of preponderance of evidence by, which civil cases are decided,this inference ought to prevail.Relevant Dissent-Concurring Opinion/Notes:Article 43. If there is a doubt, as between two or more persons who are called to succeed each other, as to which ofthem died first, whoever alleges the death of one prior to the other, shall prove the same; in the absence of proof, it ispresumed that they died at the same time and there shall be no transmission of rights from one to the other.